Allen, Dawson share Insperity lead

The Woodlands, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Michael Allen and Marco Dawson shot matching 6-under 66s in Friday's first round, tying them for the early lead at the Insperity Invitational.

Allen is a seven-time winner on the Champions Tour, including two victories in 2014, while Dawson picked up his first win at the Tucson Conquistadores Classic in March.

Colin Montgomerie headlines a group of three players that shot 5-under 67 on the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club. He is joined there by Joe Durant and Jeff Maggert.

Steve Pate and Billy Andrade are one shot further back and tied for sixth at 4-under 68.

Defending champion Bernhard Langer, who picked up his second of five 2014 victories here last year, is tied for 31st at 1-under 71.

Allen did most of his work on the front nine as the 56-year-old made birdies on every other hole at one, three, five, seven and nine. He also tripped to a bogey on the par-3 eighth as Allen made the turn at minus-4.

Following a trio of pars from No. 10, Allen holed two more birdies at 13 and 15, both par-5s, to jump up to 6-under. He finished up with three more pars to end there.

"Pretty good day overall," Allen said. "Went with the long putter for the first time in a while. Putted beautifully. I went to the short putter and won (the 2014 AT&T Championship) in Texas, but I haven't putted well lately."

Dawson played the back nine first and after a pair of pars at 10 and 11, he drained back-to-back gains at 12 and 13 to get into red numbers. Three straight pars preceded Dawson's second stint of back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18 as he made the turn at 4-under.

The 51-year-old continued his solid play with two more birdies at Nos. 2 and 3, but he gave one of those shots back when he tripped to a bogey on the par-4 fourth.

Dawson finished up his round with four pars to go along with a birdie at the par-5 sixth. At the end of the day, he was tied for the lead.

"Managed my game well. I hit the right club off the tee. Haven't done much lately," Dawson said. "This course is basically the same as when we played on the PGA Tour. Sort of like Tucson. I'm driving the ball better than I ever have before.

Montgomerie, Durant and Maggert all went bogey-free in their first rounds and each of them poured in five birdies in the process.

NOTES: Allen won both the Allianz Championship and AT&T Championship last season ... Allen and Dawson have one victory each on the Web.com Tour ... Langer has won this event three times. He also went back-to-back in 2007-08 ... Durant and Andrade teamed up to win last week's Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf. It was the first victory for both of them on the Champions Tour.